The appearances of US First Lady Melania Trump have become newsworthy as she carefully selects her public interventions during Trump’s second term. This time, Melania Trump met with the heads of American technology giants: Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, Sam Altman of OpenAI, and Sundar Pichai of Google.
Read: USA: The “Alcatraz with alligators” will remain open pending court decision
Melania Trump: “Robots are here. Our future is no longer science fiction”
“Robots are here. Our future is no longer science fiction,” Melania Trump stated during the White House AI Education Task Force meeting. This was Melania Trump’s first public appearance since July 13th.
“As leaders and parents, we must manage the development of artificial intelligence responsibly. During this early stage, it is our duty to approach artificial intelligence as we would our own children: empowering, but with vigilant guidance,” the US First Lady said, calling on leaders to prioritize infrastructure and energy, national security, and talent as the technology expands.
This meeting took place within the framework of the “Be Best” platform, which Melania Trump launched during her husband’s first White House term. The platform emphasizes children’s safety online. Subsequently, Donald Trump hosted a dinner for the heads of American Silicon Valley giants.
Silicon Valley support for Trump
Silicon Valley bosses visited the White House yesterday to show their support for the American president and win government favor, according to Financial Times reports. The presence of American technology giants’ heads in front-row seats at Trump’s official inauguration ceremony, after donating millions to the ceremony’s organizing committee, was heavily commented on in the American press. This time, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and other chief executives, including OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Google’s Sundar Pichai, and Apple’s Tim Cook, went to the White House as they approved a plan to help America’s children learn to use artificial intelligence.
Meta head Mark Zuckerberg and Microsoft founder Bill Gates joined Donald and Melania Trump for dinner with officials and technology leaders. The American president praised the technology CEOs and stated that his administration is making it “easy” to build the data centers required for artificial intelligence by obtaining necessary permits.
Technology bosses have worked to court Trump since last year’s elections, seeking more relaxed regulatory frameworks, greater public subsidies, and tariff exemptions for their companies, according to the Financial Times. Several technology companies, like Google, are also in court following US government lawsuits for antitrust violations.
So far, Silicon Valley players who attempted to disagree with Trump have regretted it, as the American president has threatened individual groups with tariffs, such as Apple. The goal is to align Silicon Valley with his agenda for strengthening domestic American production and having companies absorb tariff costs.
